Stories for the wild adventurer in you

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winter

Beams of light peak through gaps of grey, and direct their rays to the earth. Water sparkles this day, illuminating the sun’s radiance in a lake that rests between two forms of earth that rise into the sky. Every fragment of the lake shimmers like the white dust that falls to earth. A majestic buck; well into adulthood, stands near the lake. While white flakes kiss his thick coat, he watches on as they blanket the ground with famine. Looking at the lake the old buck smacks his hoof on the surface hoping for a morsel of liquid to satisfy his dry mouth, but that time has passed. The water doesn’t flow anymore. Overnight it had hardened making it impossible to drink. He had not found any food either.

The old buck’s hooves crunch as he walks back to the gathering place. Back to his pregnant doe, empty handed. He pauses, suddenly feeling uneasy. His ears flick around him, grasping for any noise that is out of place. In the near distance he hears the faint crackling of twigs, and both ears immediately cup in front of him. He raises his big head to the sky, and sniffs the air. Wolves. He bunches his muscles, and leaps into a canter, but he is too late. His legs slide in front of him, as he desperately tries to turn around in mid bound. The wolf in front of him has scars that grip the contours of it’s snout. It flashes it’s teeth, and lets out a howl that resinates fear inside the buck. Finding grip, he tries to dash to the left, but the wolves have surrounded him. He lets out a warning bellow to his herd, as he notices that the only open path is the frozen lake behind him. He takes it. His hoofs can barley find purchase, but he sets his sights to the other side.

Reaching the middle of the icy lake, he looks back at the wolves. Most of them run back and forth along the water’s edge growling, the others are trying to circle around the lake, but they won’t make it in time. One wolf; however, has fire in it’s eyes. The wolf with battle scars on it’s snout, is following the buck’s icy path, and it’s claws grip the ice allowing it to gain on the old buck. The buck knows that he won’t make it to the other side, before the wolf gains enough ground to attack. So he turns his body, to face the wolf head on.

Time slows down, and the buck finds himself almost as frozen as the lake itself. Claws scratch the ice, drool drips to the ground, eyes never waver, shoulders hunch as the wolf stalks his prey…and then the wolf is in the air. The buck rises up to his hind legs, and pushes his front legs forward. His hooves hit the wolf in the chest, but not as hard as it should have, because his hind legs slip backward. The buck rises again to stomp on the fallen wolf, but the wolf catches it’s breath and rolls to it’s feet, leaving the bucks hooves to hit only ice. Suddenly there is a sharp pain as claws are dug into the bucks back. He bucks, and spins wildly, his hooves flailing around him. Being unable to regain his footing, he pushes his weight to the side, and lets his body drop, pinning the wolf to the icy surface of the lake. Suddenly there is a crack arising from the ice. A deathly chill threatens to consume the buck, but he scrambles backwards slipping in the red that drips from his back.

He moves, and the ice moves with him. The ice does not follow the wolf, for the wolf is light, and it’s paws are soft, but it is injured, and can not escape it’s fate. The ice decides to release itself, and fold into itself. There is nothing to push off of, nothing to save his life now. The wolf franticly scrambles for footing to no avail, as the buck’s head submerges, and the cold lake embraces his life.